If Karl Rove has taught us anything over the past eight years or so, it's that the Republican Party, in its current state, is morally and ethically bankrupt.
Certainly we have honorable Republicans, and we've spotlighted some of them (Jill Simpson, Grant Woods) here at Legal Schnauzer. But their voices tend to be drowned out by the cacophony of sleaze that has been planted and nurtured by King Karl.
That means it will be up to Democrats if we are to have any hope of honest government in the near future. But in order for Democrats to lead on the ethics front, they must oust dirtbags in their own camp.
And they can start with Rep. Tim Mahoney of Florida.
ABC News and TPM Muckraker are reporting that Mahoney agreed to pay a former mistress-who was also a staff member--$121,000 after she threatened to sue him.
We learned yesterday that the FBI is investigating Mahoney. And a report comes today that Mahoney was having an affair with at least one other Florida woman, a county official in the West Palm Beach Area.
Mary Ann Akers checks in with an excellent overview piece at The Washington Post.
The Mahoney story is filled with icky irony. He holds the seat vacated by Republican Mark Foley, who stepped down after it was revealed that he had made homosexual advances toward subordinates.
Mahoney evidently thought it was OK to be a sexual predator, as long as you are of the "hetero" variety.
That, of course, is stupid. And if you want more evidence of Mahoney's stupidity, take a listen to a tape recorded phone conversation he had with his mistress.
You can hear the conversation and read a transcript of it here.
As someone who was unlawfully terminated from my job at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), I have low tolerance for people who abuse their employees. And the tape recording reveals Mahoney to be the worst kind of workplace reptile.
Listening to his words made my flesh crawl, and caused the words "stupid," "arrogant," and "prick" to come to mind.
It also reminded me of UAB's behavior in my case. I'll show you what I'm talking about next.
2 comments:
You'll be happy to know that the Dems have indeed thrown Mahoney under the bus (I like that a lot better than roast one of their own).
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/democrats-ditch--rep.-mahoney-amid-sex-scandal-2008-10-14.html
Now if they could only do something about William Jefferson.
Rick
P.S. Hope you missed that Mizzou/OSU game on Saturday. What a disaster. Still, they were in the same position a year ago, and were still in position to play for the national championship if they could have beaten Oklahoma the second time around. So don't give up hope.
Rick:
Thanks for writing and for sending along this link. Sad case in Florida. And yes, the Mizzou-OSU game was tough to take. On the bright side, it was great to see that OSU considered it a big deal to beat Mizzou. Wasn't too long ago that beating Mizzou as considered a given.
Post a Comment